The lights flash and clicking under dash and hood but the starter wont engage. it wont engage with the key either. my wife is upset when she cant start either way and I dont know what to do. 98 gmc 5.7 auto suburban. when I get home, it starts normally with remote and with key! whats up?

What year vehicle ? The clicking sound you hear from bake seat is probably a relay ! There is a fuse / relay box under the back seat ! How did you check the starter relay ? Just pull it out an look at it ? Was it #36 START 1 Relay
-- Starter Solenoid and PCM in the under hood fuse / relay Box ?
This relay is computer energized - PCM supply's a ground to circuit 447 which energizes the relay sending voltage to the starter S terminal engaging the starter . Do you have a test light or a volt ohm meter ? If you pull out the starter relay an look on the bottom you will see some numbers , 85,86 an 30,87 . match them up to the holes they came out of . Check out this video on YouTube ,you can check for voltage an computer control . Is the SECRUITY light lit on the dash ?
This VEHICLE RELAYS Operation Diagnosis VEHICLE RELAYS Testing from the relay base

NO. Fuel pump relay controls the fuel delivery. You should NOT be hearing ANY clicking sounds when starting. If you have a manual tranny, you have a starting system that includes: a starter relay, a clutch safety switch, ignition switch, starter, battery.



On my \'91 Integra, I by-passed the normal starting system by running 2 separate 12-guage wires to the dash (thru the firewall, mounted along the firewall over across to the starter and to the under-hood fuse panel). I connected 1 wire to the under hood fuse panel (for power), and the other wire directly to the starter relay. Then, at the dash I connected both wires to a high-quality "momentary-on/off" toggle switch - this is my starter switch. I turn the ignition key to when the dash lights come on, then flick the switch, and BINGO the car always starts right up.



BUT, this is somewhat unsafe because it doesn\'t use the clutch safety switch - which is nothing more than a spring-loaded switch on the arm of the clutch pedal connected to the ground. IF you are using the standard starting system, you MUST engage the clutch for the starting system to make contact with the ground in order to engage the starter. So, check this switch first for a good connection to ground. It usually fails first before anything else. If it checks out, THEN check the starter relay, located waaaaaaay up underneath the dash, right in the middle. To get at the starter relay, you\'ll have to remove the glove box, and plastic & metal kick panels on the passenger side. The relay is located way up underneath the dash, next to the Blower housing. You\'ll need a long socket extension to reach it. Someone at Acura/Honda decided this was the best place for it. Boy would I like to whack him with a 2x4.



See this diagram for reference - the starter relay is #15.

either the starter is not engaging all the way or there is a bad spot on the ring gear, remove the starter and turn the engine and check the ring gear if its good then look at the starter

this is the starter relay your battery is most likley very low or the starter is bad

If the clicking sound is coming from the engine bay, from the relay, you may want to have the starter itself checked out. You need to check if the ground cable from the engine to the chassis is secured. If that is OK, you may want to have the starter motor checked.

Does your key have a chip on it? If it does its probably the problem

check for power at the starter and starter solenoid while someone holds the key to crank if it has enough voltage the starter is bad but make sure all connections for the battery and starter are good before replacing starter

ck your clutch pedal switch if it is open circuit it won't let the starter engage you can unplug it and jump the the two wires if this doesn't engage the starter you have a bad starter relay and it is located in the fuse box under the hood

mine is doing the same... all i did was reconnect the battery...and it worked fine...but know my hood wont open!!! so i cant fix the cable on the battery!!! i pull on the darn cable so hard and the hood still wont budge!!!

pontiacs have a security key do you have another key you can try to make sure this is not the problem ?